I am a plastic surgeon in Little Rock, AR. I used to "suture for a living", I continue "to live to sew". These days most of my sewing is piecing quilts. I love the patterns and interplay of the fabric color. I would like to explore writing about medical/surgical topics as well as sewing/quilting topics. I will do my best to make sure both are represented accurately as I share with both colleagues and the general public.

Quilts of Valor

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Back in June I wrote about the need for tactile quilts for blind or sight-impaired soldiers. The tactile sense training seems to help them train the brain to "see" in other ways. The reason is not fully understood, but is known as sensory substitution. This refers to the capacity of the brain to replace the functions of a lost sense by another sensory modality. The most commonly used form of sensory substitution is Braille reading which allows the blind to read by touch (somatosensory system).

For the one I am working on now, I used cottons, washable fake fur (polyester zebra print), and old denim. There are four working pockets from the black denim jeans (trouser style). One pocket even has the button-flap. I hadn't intended for it to look "Christmasy" but it does. It is black and white, red, and green in color. The backing fabric is a flannel of the same colors. I am doing a simple "out-line" quilting stitch on my sewing machine. No hand quilting for these thick fabrics (the denim and fake fur). It does have a "nice touch". I hope to finish it over this weekend between family events.

I don't have a name for this pattern. I found this "picture puzzle" in the paper and adapted it.

A good friend, and a long-time recovery room nurse, is a phenomenal quilter, and her work is very representational and tactile. Her website is here, and the quilt at the top of her site is one she made for the head of my (former) clinic's surgery center, a mother goose if ever there was one (she [the recipient] also wrote a blurb on my book; you might notice the name.) Anyway, I don't know if she's ever shown her work specifically to the sight-impaired, but it seems it'd lend itself well. I'll tell her about your site, and this post.

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My purpose in writing my blog is to attempt to provide good solid medical information on topics of my choosing. It is a way to educate myself, my colleagues, and the general public. References will be provided on medical posts, but not on opinion essays or poetry posts. An additional purpose is to share my interest in quilting topics, a way to show my human side.

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